


The Lioness

by Hadrian_Pendragons



Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Chrome deserves better, Family Issues, Gen, Kohaku is a good sister, Not Beta Read, Sickness, Something for the sisters, We Die Like Men, and kohaku because she deserves the world, may or may not continue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:40:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26135911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hadrian_Pendragons/pseuds/Hadrian_Pendragons
Summary: Kohaku loved her sister more than anything in the world. Ishigami village was unfair.
Relationships: Chrome & Kohaku (Dr. STONE), Kohaku & Ruri (Dr. STONE)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	The Lioness

If anyone were to tell Kohaku that they loved her sister, she would point to the edge of the mountain, over the brush of the forest beyond the outer bridge, and say, “Then tell me what’s out there.”

Then she would continue walking, urn full of springwater and heart full of anger— anger at her sister’s sickness, anger at her father, anger at her village. 

Anger at herself for not being able to do more when her sister’s uncontrollable coughs drove her to the ground. 

But that anger carried her. It carried her over the bridge, into the forest, up near the mountains where she filled the urn with piping hot water that caused the clay to grow warm and weighed her arms with twice and more her weight. 

And then it would carry her back. 

And every time she struck her baton against another’s in training, her chest would tighten and her muscles would ache and she would spare a moment to check in with her sister, with Ruri, with the person who had always been there for her, practically raised her, alongside a father that didn’t know what to do after his wife died and attendants that gave them no privacy. 

_ She won’t live to be an adult,  _ they said.  _ She won’t live to marriage.  _

_ Marriage.  _ A husband. A child. Another priestess that would carry the words of their long-dead ancestors. 

_ Marriage.  _ Like it was the only thing a priestess had to live for. 

But Ruri wouldn’t live to adulthood. She wouldn’t live to that milestone. 

Kohaku hated marriage. 

And when Kohaku had grown old enough to understand, all eyes turned to the  _ other  _ sister.

The one that played in the mud with the boys, that rough housed and hit back, that went galavanting through the forest with Chrome as often as she could get away, and as often as she wasn’t mimicking Kinrou and Magma’s training, as un-priestess-like as could be.

Her  _ sister  _ had turned to her. 

With blue eyes darkened like the depths of the ocean. 

With their ceremonial knot tied around her neck like a noose. 

“I won’t do it.”

“Kohaku—“

Her sister had turned to her and accepted  _ death,  _ and Kohaku couldn’t  _ take _ that. 

“I  _ won’t become the priestess!”  _

Her sister had looked to her,

and Kohaku had turned her back. 

_ Ruri won’t die.  _

Picked up an urn. 

_ Ruri won’t die.  _

And run. 

Run as far as her feet could carry her, until she stumbled upon the hot, hot water of life that she’d heard the elders wish to ease their pains in. 

And so her anger carried her. Every morning. Every day. Every night. Until it was routine. 

Wake up. 

Eat on the way. 

Return with the spring water. 

And train. 

Until the day Chrome was banished. 

“His sorcery is probably what’s killing Ruri—“

_ “By the Goddess of the Land herself, I  _ dare  _ you to blame him one more time in front of me.” _

_ Anger  _ was not the word she would use to describe her feelings. 

_ Rage  _ felt more direct. 

(Ruri had taught her those words. Alongside happiness and sorrow and memories of a mother she couldn’t remember.)

Jasper looked as if he wanted to speak up. Stand with her, maybe. Turquoise was a lost cause, but Jasper had always been Kohaku’s favorite of the two. 

But her father stands and she forgets about all other adults to clench her shaking fists and think of bright-eyed Chrome that gallivanted more bravely through the forests than any of their hunters. Who brought a spark of life to her sister’s eyes when she felt tired and was confined to bed. 

Chrome, who was no longer allowed to cross the outer bridge.

“Kohaku, you  _ need  _ to understand—“

“I  _ hate  _ you,” she interrupts. He looks as if she’d punched him. 

_ Good,  _ she thinks. 

“Do you  _ want  _ Ruri to die?” Her voice breaks and there are  _ tears  _ in her eyes and Kohaku knows the word for this emotion is  _ frustration.  _

She doesn’t wait to hear the answer. 

She leaves the spring water where she’d left it by the entrance, and she runs once more. 

She doesn’t need to run far this time. 

“Chrome!”

He turns around with wide eyes, standing in the middle of the clearing and opening his mouth with curiosity, before Kohaku can no longer see his expression because she’s swept him into a hug and buried her face in his shoulder. 

“... It’s okay, Kohaku. I’m okay.”

_ “It’s not fair,”  _ she chokes out, and he wraps his arms around her the moment her voice gives away her tears. 

None of it was fair. They both knew that. 

So Chrome doesn’t say anything as she lets herself cry for her sister’s life, even when she thinks it’s selfish to be comforted by the boy that was just  _ banished from his home.  _

“You know what? I think I know what will cheer you up,” he says from the other side of the fire, where he had been pacing back and forth until the sun had set. She sat with her arms wrapped around her knees, eyes puffy and red. 

She glances up at him and feels tired of watching him pace, “What?”

“Let’s go exploring!”

“That just makes you feel better.”

His face twitches. He throws his hands up and falls backwards, landing on his back with a  _ thump  _ and immediately regretting it as he rolls over and whines about no longer having his bedroll. 

“They didn’t even let you bring it?”

“I… I left as fast as I could,” he sits up. Glances away. He looks sad, and she feels  _ angry  _ again, but neither of them can do anything about it. 

Kohaku uncurls and sighs, “I’ll go get your things.”

He smiles awkwardly, but thankfully.

“Oho? Kohaku is here as well?”

Then they both snap their heads to the side to see a mound of bags. 

Kohaku blinks, but her eyes cut through the darkness, and she spots the feet underneath, and the gnarled hands holding it all upright, “... Kaseki?”

“Old Man Kaseki!?” Chrome calls out, rushing to the mound’s side, but he fails to keep it from overbalancing, and all of Chrome’s belongings crash into the ground.

Kohaku winces and stands to help.

They spend that night building Chrome somewhere to stay. It isn’t fancy, nor is it big, but they’re able to shove his entire collection to one side and lay out a blanket on the other, and Kohaku feels better knowing he has a roof over his head. 

He eventually waves them both away, telling them he’ll be fine and giving her a smile that reads as entirely fake, “I’m just that much closer to the mountains now! Don’t worry about me, I’m right at home.”

She thinks that maybe she’ll be spending more time outside the village from now on.


End file.
